wildfire

[ wahyld-fahyuh r ]

/ ˈwaɪldˌfaɪər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wildfire ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a highly flammable composition, as Greek fire, difficult to extinguish when ignited, formerly used in warfare.

any large fire that spreads rapidly and is hard to extinguish.

sheet lightning, unaccompanied by thunder.

the ignis fatuus or a similar light.

Plant Pathology. a disease of tobacco and soybeans, characterized by brown, necrotic spots, each surrounded by a yellow band, on the leaves and caused by a bacterium, Pseudomonas tabaci.

Pathology Obsolete. erysipelas or some similar disease.

Nearby words

wilder, thornton, wilder, thornton niven, wilderness, wilderness area, wilderness road, wildfire, wildflower, wildfowl, wilding, wildish, wildland

Origin of wildfire

before 1000; Middle English wildefire, Old English wildfȳr. See wild, fire

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for wildfire

Besides, victory fever had spread like wildfire throughout the Allied armies.
Hitler’s Hail Mary|James A. Warren|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Anti-Korean books, magazines, and comic books are selling like wildfire.
For Top Pols In Japan Crime Doesn’t Pay, But Hate Crime Does|Jake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo|September 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was late October, six weeks after the initial outbreak, and the virus was rumored to be spreading like wildfire.
The Original Ebola Hunter|Abby Haglage|September 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The dish “took off like wildfire,” says Leong, despite there being virtually no Chinese people in the area.
‘The Search for General Tso’: The Origins of America’s Favorite Chinese Dish, General Tso’s Chicken|Marlow Stern|April 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Statutes will prevent this from spreading across the majority if it catches on like wildfire for the student athletes.
College Football’s Toughest Play: Unionizing|Evan Weiner|January 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the meanwhile, news of the wreck had spread like wildfire through Margate.
Storm Warriors|John Gilmore
Already the news was spreading like wildfire among the boys and girls all over the city.
Sure Pop and the Safety Scouts|Roy Rutherford Bailey
Slone kept to the east trail, in which Wildfire's tracks and those of the lion showed clearly.
The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories|Various
When the news of the burning went over the country like wildfire, at every country town anvils boomed forth the announcement.
The Red Record|Ida B. Wells-Barnett
If we could get them committed to the scheme, and a man like Mr. Putney—he'd make a capital Mercutio—it would go like wildfire.
Annie Kilburn|William Dean Howells

British Dictionary definitions for wildfire

wildfire

/ (ˈwaɪldˌfaɪə) /

noun

a highly flammable material, such as Greek fire, formerly used in warfare

a raging and uncontrollable fire
anything that is disseminated quickly (esp in the phrase spread like wildfire)

lightning without audible thunder

another name for will-o'-the-wisp

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with wildfire

wildfire

see spread like wildfire.